Marion Comi-Morog
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Munger, Dr. Multhaup
Boundary extension (BE) is a small anticipation about the edges of a scene. When shown a photograph and asked to remember it, including the background, individuals will later claim that the exact same photograph is actually a closer view. We tested college students at Madras Christian College (MCC; just outside Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) and students at Davidson College (DC; just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, USA). Students were tested in public spaces on campus (e.g., the student union) using iPads. Both groups showed significant BE, but the MCC students had significantly less extension for the most sensitive measure of BE, rating close-angle photos. To assess whether device and/or public space was driving the size of BE, we collected data in two additional conditions, iPads in the lab and iMacs in the lab. Data from US students showed no differences for apparatus or location (public space, lab), with significant and equivalent BE observed for all three BE patterns outlined by Intraub and Dickinson (2008). Observing less BE for the Indian than US students may be related to observations that East Asian students are more sensitive to contextual changes in scenes (Masuda & Nisbett, 2006).
